The current drive of both Orthodox and secular Jews to visit the Temple Mount and rebuild the Temple reflects a sea change in the national-religious camp, one that threatens to destroy both Zionism and Judaism...Read More

Elul, the month of forgiveness and reconciliation, is just around the corner, and I have a confession to make. Dear honorable chief rabbis of Israel, The month of Av is almost over. Elul, the month...Read More

In 1920s and ’30s Chicago, Anne Goldstein made her Eastern European immigrant parents proud via her basketball and softball achievements. The Chicago Jewish community was interested in developing a program for youth involving recreation and...Read More

Conversos often obtained impressive positions in Iberian society despite the discrimination that they encountered, whether in the social or legal realm. A fascinating trial reveals endless details about the life of Juan Ramirez, who lived...Read More

On July 2nd, in the wake of the brutal murder of Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah hy”d, three young religious Jews apparently kidnapped and brutally murdered Muhammad Abu Khdeir. In addition, Jews shouted...Read More

As can be seen from a particular letter dated to the 1120s, distance was only one factor in the stressful lives of merchants and their families. Brothers and sisters in Geniza society often had strong...Read More

Evelina de Rothschild School was created for Jewish girls during a period when the Yishuv was struggling with serious issues of poverty. On June 9 and 10, a conference celebrating the 160th anniversary of the...Read More

48. David Golinkin, President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies RABBI DAVID GOLINKIN is one of the leading thinkers in the Conservative (Masorti) Movement and a prolific author and writer, and seeks to advance...Read More

In order to appease the family and meet the social expectations of her milieu, she married a cousin. Lydia Llovna Rubinstein (1885-1960) was born in Kharkov, Ukraine, at a time when wealthy Jews were often...Read More

During research I conducted with Doron Bar we located hundreds of sheikhs’ tombs across the country, many of which are in varying states of disrepair. There are over a dozen Mamluk- or Ottoman-era Khans that...Read More

Guggenheim was at odds as to her place in this society and was champing at the bit to choose her own path. Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) was born into a well-to-do German family living in New...Read More

Older than the larger, official Yad Vashem, the Chamber of the Holocaust on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion looks to regain a spot on the map after years of fading interest / BY REBECCA MCKINSEY ...Initially, Ben Zion...Read More

Is it ever appropriate to call out in synagogue services? Is it ever appropriate or acceptable to call out and interrupt synagogue services? In the Middle Ages one can find this occurring in communities residing...Read More

About 25 years ago, the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative-Masorti Movement in Israel issued a ruling that not only permitted eating kitniyot, but also stipulated that it was “perhaps even obligatory.” The ruling, written by...Read More

Even today, with the sophisticated modern technology available, there are miscommunication problems that arise as the result of long distances. Communication from a distance has always been a difficult obstacle to surmount. Even today, with...Read More

TALI aims to integrate pluralistic Jewish learning into the secular classroom. Israeli society has long been wary of broaching Judaism in the secular school system. But Rabbi Dr. Eitan Chikli, executive director of the pluralistic...Read More

... The custom of making noise when Haman's name is mentioned, according to an article titled "Are Jews Still Commanded to Blot Out the Memory of Amalek," by Rabbi David Golinkin of the Schetcher Institute...Read More

To this day, no one knows whether de Paz was representing his converso brethren in the papal court, was deferring the establishment of the Inquisition with bribes and flattery, or whether he was double-crossing everyone...Read More

It is inexcusable that many women who want to get divorced are faced with their spouses’ recalcitrance and must sometimes wait for years until they obtain a get (Jewish writ of divorce). For the...Read More

One of the many surprises this scholar encountered was the fact that many Jewish merchants set forth from Cairo (and Yemen) to India. The great Cairo Geniza scholar, S.D. Goitein, published an English translation of...Read More

TWO RABBIS will be the guest speakersat the generalmeeting of the Tamar Chapterof Hadassah held at Beit Frankfurter on February .71They are Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz, born and raised in Montreal, and France-born Rabbi Valerie Stessin....Read More

In short, these collections are a rare find in the world of Ladino poetry. Bouena passed away on July 23, 1997, leaving a rich legacy for generations to come. While investigating an eminent Sephardi family...Read More

Florence, Italy, awards its highest honor to an archbishop, an Israeli rabbi and a Palestinian imam. MILAN, Italy – Florence may be best known for its masterpieces of art and Renaissance architecture, but according to...Read More

Letters served many purposes in medieval Mediterranean society. Some individuals wrote solely for business dealings, others for personal reasons. Letters served many purposes in medieval Mediterranean society. Some individuals wrote solely for business dealings, others...Read More

This review first appeared in Conservative Judaism , Volume 64, No. 3, Spring 2013. The Student Struggle Against the Holocaust, by Rafael Medoff and David Golinkin. Jerusalem: David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, 2010. The three...Read More

David Golinkin would like to see his and other non-Orthodox halachic decisions impact Orthodoxy as well by Mati Wagner The Status of Women in Jewish Law By David Golinkin Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies 413...Read More

In September 2011 an IDF entertainment troupe was performing at an event attended by the staff and cadets of the IDF officers training base Bahad Ehad. When a female soldier began to sing solo,...Read More

Violent protests against Women of the Wall took place again this Rosh Hodesh Sivan. Prof. David Golinkin posits three solutions to end the strife at the Wall in this Israel radio interview that took recently...Read More

‘You will decree and it will be fulfilled, and light will shine upon your affairs.’ At the end of the 11th century, the head of Egyptian Jewry, David ben Daniel, received a request for help,...Read More

Rabbis living in the Ottoman Empire seemed to be extremely concerned about the moral fiber of their communities. In their opinion, widows, agunot (women “chained” to their marriages) and women separated from their husbands all presented threats...Read More

As the newly hired rabbi of Kehillat Magen Avraham, Sadoff led a mostly sabra community in prayer and delivered his sermon - about how to cope with major life transitions - in fluent if slightly...Read More

Check out this story published this past Friday in The Jerusalem Post as part of a bi-monthly series, His Story/Her Story, contributed by Renée Levine Melammed, outgoing Dean of the Schechter Graduate School. The series...Read More

by Linda Price, Summer 2012 Twenty years ago in a former Soviet Army officers' resort, Camp Ramah Yachad-Ukraine was born. The camp site, located outside of Moscow, welcomed that first group of pioneering campers and...Read More

by Gil Shefler New leader of Kiev congregation: Anti-Semitism in Ukraine at a low simmer When Rabbi Reuven Stamov arrives in Ukraine next March he might receive a mixed reaction from local members of Conservative...Read More

Fourteen years after they launched their campaign, parents from Ra’anana are celebrating the opening this week of a new public school in the city, which they say will fill a glaring need in their children’s...Read More

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A Ukraine native will be the first Conservative rabbi to serve in the former Soviet republic. Reuven Stamov, 38, originally from Crimea, on Feb. 3 will be the 82nd rabbi to be ordained...Read More

On a small desk, squeezed between a closet and a wall, the writing of the first women's Torah scroll in Israel began a few weeks ago. The scribe, Hanna Klebansky, says she hopes the writing...Read More

JERUSALEM - Noting that women have taken on key leadership roles throughout history, Professor David Golinkin, president of the Conservative Judaism-affiliated Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, introduced the post-graduate academy's seventh Annual Conference on the...Read More

Last week, rather than mounting some constructive diplomatic offensive, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton simply was undiplomatic and offensive. In the Obama Administration’s latest insult to the Jewish State, Clinton compared democratic Israel to...Read More

Anthropologist Melvin Konner views male circumcision, family purity as two mitzvot which can explain Jewish people's survival to this day. And yes, it has to do with Darwin's theory. Tzofia Hirschfeld The history of the...Read More

Schechter Center in Templar structure in Neve Tzedek hopes to attract Israelis from all streams, whether secular or religious, and help foster cultural, spiritual dialogue The historical building Beit Lorenz in Tel Aviv's Neve Tzedek...Read More

On a hill in Neveh Granot where less than 50 years ago wolves roamed, the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies dedicated the first of the three buildings that will comprise its new $23.2 million campus...Read More

The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies dedicated on Tuesday the first building of its new campus next to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and Wednesday will see the dedication of its Legacy Heritage Building in...Read More

Tolerance is such a rarity in Israel that it merits a prize. This year, artists Jacky Levy and Shlomo Gronich are the recipients. Our young country is marked by a tradition of intolerance, with roots...Read More

With vines growing out of an old woman's boot, an assemblage of pita and a commanding, makeshift mezuza that stands taller than the 81-year-old artist, Jo Milgrom's Jerusalem home is an ad-hoc gallery, full of...Read More

While, as most would agree, religious tolerance is a very important issue, few would deign to claim that it is a serious contender in the entertainment stakes. Then again, when you decide to present an...Read More

JERUSALEM -- As the Haredim are demonstrating in Jerusalem against operation of the Intel factory on Shabbat, others in Jerusalem are receiving a prize for promoting religious tolerance. On Dec. 13, as part of its...Read More

In what could definitely be described as better late than never, more than 100 school principals and teachers, who completed the two-year TALI Educational Leadership Program between 2003 and 2008, were finally honored in a...Read More

In the 1940s, your father and grandfather were involved in protests against the Roosevelt administration's abandonment of European Jewry. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the foremost Jewish leader of that era, opposed those protests. Now you're...Read More

By Steve Lipman The People of the Book produce no books in greater quantity than the Passover Haggadah. As surely as the seder brings Jews together every year, the seder table holds a selection of...Read More

By Ben Harris Why is this Passover different than all other Passovers? On most Passovers, it is the liberal Jewish denominations that seek to reinterpret the holiday traditions, often viewing them through the prism of...Read More

By Alan Jay Gerber In his introduction to “Haggadah and History” (Jewish Publications Society, 1975) , historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi noted the following: “The Haggadah is in many ways the most popular and beloved of...Read More

By Nathan Burstein If the Jews ever spend another 40 years wandering the desert, running out of reading material shouldn't be a problem. They can pass the time just looking through old Haggadot. The Haggadah...Read More

By Elli Fischer Rabbi Elli Fischer is a freelance translator living in Modiin, Israel. He maintains the "On the Contrary:Judasim with Comments Enabled " blog. This is his second contribution to the TraditionOnline Seforim blog...Read More

By Mordechai Ben- Dat No festival in our calendar more firmly anchors in us a collective sense of memory and inter-connection than Pesach. This is how it has been ever since Moses imparted God's...Read More

While the overwhelming tragedy of the Holocaust has for decades kept Jews focused on what happened in Europe, recently some historians have turned their attention toward the efforts of a few brave souls who worked...Read More

by Yoav Fridman Students at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem have transformed rabbinic midrash into works of art. In the words of one lecturer: "I wanted Torah study to be not only...Read More

Much has already been written about the war against Hamas in Gaza, but very few have asked the question: What can we learn from our sources about the current conflict? During the past eight years,...Read More

Until they met a few years ago in rabbinical school, Yoav Ende and Yonatan Sadoff had led quite different lives. Now, after having been ordained earlier this month by the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem,...Read More

Ehud Zion Waldoks , THE JERUSALEM POST About 20 parents gathered at the TALI Geulim Elementary School in the Geulim (Baka) neighborhood of Jerusalem on Friday morning. This time, it wasn't for a parent-teacher meeting...Read More

In May 2008, Rabbi Avraham Sherman and two other judges of the High Rabbinical Court of the Chief Rabbinate ruled that all of the conversions performed by Rabbi Chaim Drukman and Israel’s National Conversion Court...Read More

The Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies sponsored a special conference on Jewish Education in Israel and the Diaspora Tuesday. The conference featured a special panel on Prof. Walter Ackerman's recently published book “Jewish Education –...Read More

Figures huddled over desks furiously writing and rewriting scripts, others excitedly preparing to go on air, making sure microphones are in place and the sound level is just right... none of the above would seem...Read More